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I've had at least one eye open for the better part of the day -- a grand improvement over the past four. I'm still an irritable, uncomfortable, phlegmy, miserable mess with a barking cough and the attention span of a gnat, but that's what makes the intartubes wonderful -- they're as good taken in small bites as they are in big gulps._____

I suspect that even if I was feeling better, this would have given me a major case of the sniffles:

When I was growing up in Cleveland, we'd race home from church and turn on The Gene Carroll Show on WEWS-TV while the Princess Mom got lunch going. The only YouTube video I could find is not embeddable, but you can see it here. Yes, it really was that bad!

I apologize you did not receive a response to your previous incident. The customer number and receipt number provided do not appear to be in our systems. This does not appear to be a valid email from us. We understand the concerns about phishing and other scams that may try to impersonate Go Daddy to obtain your personal data or sensitive account information. To address these concerns we have placed a page on our website to help you determine if correspondence you receive is actually being sent from Go Daddy:

This may help you differentiate whether communication that appears to be coming from Go Daddy is genuine or not. Please also feel free to contact us directly using the following information if you have any further questions:

Email: Support@godaddy.comPhone: 480-505-8877

Please let us know if we can assist you in any other way.

Sincerely,

Micah G.Online Support Team

Customer Inquiry

Name : Leslie SpillerPhone : 312-XXX-XXXXDomain Name :Shopper Validated : NoBrowser : Safari Version : 5.0Other : Incident ID is: 9234281Issue : I reported here that I received someone else's sensitive customer information not once, but TWICE, via text message on Monday. I was told, via computer-generated response that I would hear something from GoDaddy's customer support within 24 hours. It is now Saturday morning, and I have still not heard that this matter has been cleared up, that I should destroy the emails, or even a thank you for pointing out the problem. I've now blogged about this here, here and here:

http://getonthe.blogspot.com/2010/06/drive-bys_22.html

http://getonthe.blogspot.com/2010/06/drive-bys_23.html

http://getonthe.blogspot.com/2010/06/caution-light.html

I will continue to tell people how lousy your response to this matter has been, and you can bet I will NEVER use your service. But I suggest you notify me that this matter has been cleared up, because it's still open as far as I... and my blog... are concerned.

Five freaking days to get that response. Stoopid.

______

Update: Speaking of stoopid... I've been sick over the last couple of days and posted before paying attention to exactly what all I was copying and pasting. A big smoocheroo to my BlogDaddy, who pointed out my error. Yikes!

He was the same way when it came to friendships, wimmen (his word, not mine), fatherhood, his ex-wife, music, politics -- the man lived to yank some kind of visceral reaction out of his friends, family and readers, and it didn't matter whether it was a good reaction or bad, as long as it was passionate and real. If he could wind your watch a bit too tight, he was a happy man.

If your screen name is "POTATOB75" you should be well and truly pissed, as I still have all your customer data and the brain trust at ZzzzzzzzDaddy's customer department haven't notified me that this issue has been cleared up.

Hey, SnoreDaddy! My Incident Number is 9234281. I haven't heard from you in more than 96 hours, and I haven't got a clue why I haven't heard from you. But I'm telling people YOU SUCK. And you do, too.

_____

Update:

New computer-generated response, new ID No.:

We've received your question. You can expect a response within 24 hours.

One day I'll figure out how to get a completely focused shot at night... from a position on a bouncing bridge... with my Canon Power Shot. (I really, really, really want to upgrade to a DSLR, but won't do it until I get this one mastered first.)

In the meantime, here's my latest effort:

I swear one day I'll figure out how to get the logo on the Sun Times building in clear focus under these conditions!

I never tire of this view._____

Apparently nobody ever told this guy you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar:

Three police officers rescued a 5-year-old boy who accidentally fell 10 feet into a hole and a man was Tased after allegedly punching the officer who scooped the child up after being lowered into the hole by his ankles Thursday night on the Northwest Side....

While patrolling the area, plainclothes officers Pinal, Guzman and Morrison were flagged down by the mother of the 5-year-old and other citizens saying that boy had fallen into a manhole next to a restaurant. Officers ran to the hole and saw the boy -- who was crying and visibly injured -- lying at the bottom of the hole, about 8-10 feet below, according to a police report.

The officers called for an ambulance as Pinal and Guzman lowered Morrison by his ankles down the hole and Morrison was able to grab hold of the boy, while Guzman and Pinal pulled him both up, the report said.

The officers then carried the child to ambulance that eventually transported him to Children’s Memorial Hospital where he was in “stable” condition....

But while paramedics were trying to render aid to the child, a 17-year-old relative of the boy allegedly became “very belligerent,’’ and tried to climb into the ambulance. When medics called for police assistance, the relative allegedly punched Morrison in the chest, the report said.

While the relative was placed in handcuffs, another man on the scene -- 29-year-old Pedro Bahena -- allegedly became irate, and was yelling and swearing at the officers. Pinal tried to calm him down but Bahena then allegedly punched Pinal, who Tased Bahena and subdued him, the report said.

Bahena was taken to Our Lady of Resurrection Medical Center to have the Taser prongs removed, but as Bahena was being placed into custody Uriel Banuelos, who is related to the teen -- possibly brothers -- tried to stop his arrest and he was also placed into custody.

Do you think idiocy is coded in this family's DNA? Future Darwin Award winners, I'm betting._____

My Meezer Mom pal is having a birthday today. I hope it's a really happy one... and that the boys -- Miles, Sammy and Nicky and especially Billy, who likes to break for the street any time a door opens -- behave themselves for 24 hours.

[G] As I was walking down the street a billboard caught my [D] eyeThe advertisements written there would make you laugh and [G] cryThe signs were torn and scattered from the storm the night be-[C] foreAnd as I read the [G] things they said, why, [D] this is what I [G] saw;

When I recovered from the shock I went upon my wayI'd gone no further than a block when there to my dismayAnother billboard caught my eye and like the one beforeThe wind and rain had done its work 'cause this is what I saw;

Oh, take your next vacation in a brand new FrigidaireLearn to play pian-er in your winter underwearAnd Simonize your baby with a Hershey candy barSee the difference that Drain-o makes in all the movie stars;

Oh, doctors proved that babies shouldn't smoke til they are threePeople over 35 take baths in Lipton's TeaYou wanna make this country a better place todayJust buy a record of this song and throw it "fur" away.

Apparently Verizon is experiencing some major internet service outages in the Chicago area today... and my offices was one of the gazillion and one businesses affected. From about 10:00 a.m. on we had NO internet service.

Hah! I got NO assistance from their Sales & Support line, and, in fact was told that I had to track down the account owner yesterday. Adding insult to injury, more than 24 hours since I first started trying to fix this mess, I still haven't gotten word that this has been resolved.

Don't do business with GoDaddy.com. Those douche bags are not careful with sensitive client data and their customer service stinks.

Update: Just to make sure I'm 100% accurate here, it's now been over 24 hours since the email answering my email to GoDaddy's customer service, sent almost 5 hours after my initial email, was received. I said it before and I'll say it again -- if you're doing business with GoDaddy, you are nuts._____

I'm guilty as hell of #1 -- usually in harmony, and never quietly. (Just ask this guy. He's my most recent witness.) It makes me happy.

#2? Occasionally guilty. Big fat hairy deal. I also over use elipses.

#3? Nope. Whatever praying I have to do is between my Maker and me alone.

#4? WGN Channel 9 (news and Bozo's circus), CBS Channel 2, NBC Channel 5 and some crazy cable access channel back in the early 90's to promote this cat club's shows. (Admitting to belonging to a cat club? Now there's cringe-worthy!) But why stop there? I've also been on the radio a gazillion times, again promoting the cat show, but most recently doing a little segment for Drunks in the News. Shameful, I know, but hella fun.

Twelve days after Lady Gaga wound up in his box at Shea Stadium during a Mets game, Jerry Seinfeld has called her “a jerk” and then some. Joking or no? Read and decide.

“This woman is a jerk. I hate her,” Seinfeld said during a WFAN radio interview on Monday, perhaps . “I can’t believe they put her in my box, which I paid for.”

Gaga, dressed in bra and swilling beer, was moved from her front row seat to Seinfeld’s empty box (without his knowledge) after flipping off photographers.

“You give people the finger and you get upgraded? Is that the world we’re living in now?” he said.

Seinfeld first said when asked about the June 10th incident, reports the NY Post, “I wish her the best.. you take one ‘A’ off of that and you’ve got gag.”

“I don’t know what these young people think or how they promote their careers,” Seinfeld said. “I’m older, I’m 56. I look at Lady Gaga the way Keith Hernandez watches these kids when they pull the pocket out, they wear the inside-out pocket. … Do you think he understands that? He can’t understand that. That’s a new game, that’s kids.”

He added, “I’m not one of these all-publicity-is-good people. People talk about you need exposure — you could die of exposure.”

The National Weather Service has issued the following weather warning & information for our area:

Severe Thunderstorms Expected, High Winds and Hail Possible

Strong thunderstorms are expected to arrive in the city between 4:00 and 7:00pm. The storms have the possibility of damaging winds and large hail. Depending on how the storms develop, winds could reach 70 mph. To view live weather radar, follow this link to:National Weather Service Radar.

Please disseminate this information to your employees and take the necessary precautions.

That ought to make the commute home interesting. (And it's the second time in a week, thank you very much.)

Around here every idiot who should never have received a drivers license, much less a set of car keys, inevitably picks weather like this to drive in.

A severe thunderstorm is expected to hit the North Central area of Illinois near Rockford between 2:00 and 5:00pm. Chicago will have approximately 30 minutes advance notice before the storm strikes here somewhere between 4:00 and 7:00pm.

The storm will be fast moving and may only last 30-45 minutes. It will be accompanied by 70 mph winds, hail (the size of a quarter) and heavy rains. The rainfall is expected to be 1-2 inches per hour. The heat index is expected to reach 100 degrees this evening (as well as on Sat and Sun). This storm will be very similar to the one that came through last Friday.

Yippee!

I wasn't kidding -- be careful on your way home!

_____

Update: Another first -- tornado sirens just went off. I've been working in and around the Loop since 1989, an it's the first time I've ever heard that.

I don't know what the folks at GoDaddy are thinking these days, but they've lost Joanie as a new customer through sheer ineptitude, and, if my own freaky experience with them in the past couple of days is any indication, there's no way I'd ever become a customer, either.

Here's the deal -- if you have a screen name of "POTATOB75" and are GoDaddy Customer No. 64814403, you should drop me an email (omnibus dot driver at gmail dot com). I have your login name, your receipt number and know exactly how much you spent for your site because the good folks at GoDaddy texted it to my cell phone -- twice.

I tried calling GoDaddy and explaining to them that they needed to update their records and notify the correct account holder.

GoDaddy's customer service rep ever so helpfully informed me that I would have to contact the account holder, as they had no way of even opening the account information without the verification number given at the time of sale.

[Bangs head repeatedly against monitor!!!]

I dutifully called the two different numbers GoDaddy appeared to be texting (a different one in each text message), only to find that neither puzzled woman had any idea of what I was talking about, and had no business with GoDaddy.

[Bang, bang, BANG!!!]

I emailed all of this to GoDaddy's customer service folks, got a computer-generated response saying I'd hear back from them within 24 hours. NOT.

Seriously, if you're doing business with this company, WHAT are you thinking?_____

Neoliberalism is a political philosophy and a political-economic movement beginning in the 1970s that de-emphasizes or rejects government intervention in the economy, focusing instead on achieving progress and even social justice by more free-market methods, especially an emphasis on economic growth, as measured by changes in real gross domestic product.

Go see more of Spark Check here. He hasn't been blogging long, but, by jinkies, he's good._____

I wouldn't go on a Cougar cruise for anything. And I certainly wouldn't let anyone take my picture or interview me about the experience.

That's positively pathetic._____

I am not at all happy with either of Illinois' choices for senatorial candidates this year, but...

... if I have to choose between a guy with a decent congressional track record but a penchant for self-puffery and a guy who lent money to mobsters and lost family bank at great cost to the taxpayer, but who called it "selling" the bank, and who lost millions of taxpayer dollars by his mismanagement of a college savings fund and lied about the extent of the loss in his first elected position, well... I know who I'm not voting for._____

I found Buzz Aldrin positively creepy on this season's Dancing With The Stars... but his wife is truly a horror show. Is is me, or does she make drag queens look positively straight-laced?_____

How many months into his term in office are we before he puts this policy in place:

Severe thunderstorms are currently moving across Iowa at 50-60mph, and are expected to hit Chicago between 4-5pm this afternoon. The storm is producing winds up to 70mph. Reports also predict possible hail the size of half-dollars and rainfall up to 2 inches per hour.

Lovely! Take public transportation if you can._____

Update: Boy oh boy, they weren't kidding. For the first time in all the years I've worked in this city, our office building did an announcement advising everyone to move away from the windows and into central corridors because they were concerned windows might break and glass might fly. It was really eerie watching the glass flex (and yes, I skedaddled into a safe place as soon as I witnessed that bit of oddity).

Somewhere in my box of photos, wherever I've hidden it from myself this time, I have a photo of Darling Daddy sitting cross-legged under the kitchen table with an aqua plastic colander on his head and tooting on a bright blue vuvuzela, much to the amusement of my nephew and his cousin. His employees would never have believed it in a million years, even with the evidence in hand. Must find...._____

If you haven't seen the video of the policeman punching the teenaged girl, here you go:

If she was a he, there would be no uproar. As it is...

The American Civil Liberties Union, citing Seattle Police Office of Professional Accountability reports, said Seattle police have a long history of escalating jaywalking citations into force situations.

But O'Neill said the officer reacted the way he was trained, and the only reason the situation escalated was because of the alleged violators' actions. He repeated one question: Why didn't they comply?

"Let's put the accountability where it needs to be: They escalated the situation.

"You escalate a situation when you put your hands on a uniformed officer -- you have no reason to do that," O'Neill said. "There's no justification to ever do that. And when you make that decision to go down that road then the officer is going to resort to their training."

It's not appropriate for officers to just walk away when someone is assaulting them because the assailants are clearly a threat to others as well, O'Neill said. In the video, the alleged violators use explicit language insulting the officer.

I'm with the officer. There was no police brutality here, and no racism -- only pig-headed stupidity on the part of a couple of stupid kids. Being female doesn't give you a free pass, either._____

Quote of the Day, Part 2:

The next thing you know, they will be requiring the farmer to put pants on the male sheep after they are sheared, because everyone can see their balls.

You know, in the history books Obama is going to be seen as a money and power-grabbing finger-wagging, late-to-the-party incompetent; whereas Bobby Jindal will be remembered as the guy who said, "Screw waiting! We're going to fix this now and worry about who's going to pay for it later. Get moving, fellas."